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By age 15, Kristine had already been in treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, self-harm, and a suicide attempt. It took another 14 years for her to find lasting and contented sobriety in AA. Kristina’s struggles with addiction, alcoholism, and mental illness began with a difficult childhood. Though raised in affluence, her childhood was marred by a myriad of family chaos and conflict. By age five, Kristina was already engaging in self-harm (cutting) and other behaviors to cope. By her adolescence, she had added alcohol and drugs to her escalating means of escape, and even attempted suicide. By 15, her parents had run out of conventional treatment approaches and put Kristina into a three-year program with other troubled youths. During that time, she first experienced AA meetings, albeit as a unwilling and reluctant attendee. Amazingly she stayed clean and sober for three years, though her ultimate plan to return to drugs and alcohol was fulfilled shortly thereafter. More failed attempts to help Kristina culminated in devastating crisis at age 22 when her boyfriend of two years suffered a fatal drug overdose. Crushed by the loss, she abruptly stopped using intravenous drugs. Instead, she turned solely to alcohol and cutting to deal with her grief and anxiety. Kristina’s odyssey over the next seven years was fraught with additional attempts at treatment and even some progress amidst her functional alcoholism. But it was debilitating depression and hopelessness that paved her way to the bottom. At 29, with seemingly no other alternative than suicide, Kristina was finally ready to accept help. That meant in-patient medical help for her mental health issues, intensive outpatient treatment, and a new willingness to work a God-centered AA Program.
At nearly 4 years of sobriety, Kristina’s journey from the abyss to the center of AA is nothing short of a miracle. In addition to her arduous work in the Program to assure her own sobriety, her service work extends beyond AA into her professional life as a mental health therapist. It’s been amazing to watch Kristina’s rise from the depths of despair to the heights of true God-consciousness and reliance. Her story is an inspiration, especially to women of her generation who’ve struggled with alcoholism, substance abuse, and mental illness.
In full disclosure, I’ve known of Kristina’s struggles and successes, largely through a close friendship I’ve had with her father for many years. I’m grateful he never stopped believing in her. But it also took his very well-worked Al-Anon program to help him support her in many ways that benefited and blessed them both. His is an remarkable Al-Anon story I hope to share with you in a future show.
But for now, please enjoy this episode of AA Recovery Interviews as we focus the next 65 minutes on an extraordinary woman whom I am honored to call my friend and AA sister, Kristina C.
Check out Howard’s Big Book Podcast, the complete unabridged audio version of the First and Second Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book Podcast is an engaging cover-to-cover, word-for-word reading of all 11 chapters and Personal Stories, many of which were left out of the Third and Fourth Editions. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com
[Disclaimer: AA Recovery Interviews podcast strictly adheres to AA’s 12 Traditions and all General Service Office guidelines for safe-guarding anonymity on-line. I pay all podcast production costs. No advertising is allowed. And no one receives financial gain from the show. AA Recovery Interviews and my guests do not speak for or represent AA at-large. This podcast is simply my way of giving back to AA that which has been so freely given to me. -Howard L.]